“The Queen had a peculiar and ardent desire to be crowned before the King’s departure for Germany. The King did not wish it, both by reason of the expense and because he did not like these grand festivals. Yet, since he was the kindest husband in the world, he consented and delayed his departure until she should make her entry into Paris.[77] He commanded me to stay also, which I did because of his desire, and also because the Princesse de Conti had asked me to be her cavalier at the ceremony of the Sacre and the entry.[78]
“The Court went on May 12 to stay at Saint-Denis, to be in readiness for the morrow, the day of the Queen’s Sacre, which was celebrated with the greatest possible magnificence. The King, on this occasion, was extraordinarily gay.[79] In the evening everyone returned to Paris.
“The following morning, the 14th of the said month, M. de Guise passed by my lodging and took me to go and meet the King, who had gone to hear Mass at the Feuillants. On the way we were told that he was returning by the Tuileries, upon which we went to intercept him and found him talking to M. de Villeroy. He left him, and taking M. de Guise and myself, one on either side of him, said: ‘I come from the Feuillants, where I saw the chapel which Bassompierre is having built there, and on the door he has had placed this inscription: Quid retribuam. Domino pro omnibus que retribuit mihi? And I said that, since he was German, he should have put: Calicem salutaris accipiam.’ M. de Guise laughed heartily and said to him: ‘You are, to my mind, one of the most agreeable men in the world, and our destiny created us for one another. For, had you been a man of middling station, I would have had you in my service, cost what it might; but, since God has made you a great king, it could not be otherwise than that I must belong to you.’ The King embraced him, and me also, and said: ‘You don’t know me now; but I shall die one of these days; and, when you have lost me, you will know my worth and the difference there is between me and other men.’ Upon this I said to him: ‘Mon Dieu, Sire, why do you never cease afflicting us by saying that you will soon die? These are not good words to utter; you will live, if it please God, long and happy years. There is no felicity in the world equal to yours; you are but in the flower of your age, in perfect strength and health of body, full of honours beyond any other mortal, in the tranquil enjoyment of the most flourishing country in the world; loved and adored by your subjects; possessed of property, of money, of beautiful residences, a beautiful wife, beautiful mistresses and beautiful children, who are growing up. What more could you have or desire to have?’ Then he sighed and said: ‘My friend, all this I must leave.’ ”
Before parting from the King, Bassompierre informed him that he had received a complaint from the captains of the Light Cavalry, of which he had recently been appointed Colonel, that their companies were insufficiently armed and that they were unable to obtain the weapons which they required, and begged his Majesty to give orders that these should be supplied to them. Henri IV told him to come to him that afternoon at the Arsenal, where he proposed to go to visit Sully, who was ill, and he would direct the Minister to let him have the arms he wanted. And, upon Bassompierre observing that he would very willingly give Sully at the same time the money which they were worth, to enable him to replace them, he laughingly replied by quoting two verses from a well-known song, which ran:
“Que je n’offre à personne,
Mais à vous je les donne.”
Bassompierre thanked his Majesty, kissed his hand and withdrew, little imagining that he was never to see him alive again.
“After dinner,” he says, “I went to visit Descures[80] in the Place-Royale, to inquire about the routes which the different companies [of the Light Horse] were to follow; and then I proceeded to the Arsenal, to await the King, as he had told me to do. But alas! it was in vain, for, shortly afterwards, came people crying out that the King had been wounded, and that he was being carried back to the Louvre. I ran like a madman, seized the first horse I could find, and rode full gallop towards the Louvre. Opposite the Hôtel de Longueville I met M. de Blérencourt,[81] who was returning from the Louvre, and he whispered to me: ‘He is dead!’ I ran up to the barriers which the French Guards and the Swiss had occupied, with lowered pikes, and Monsieur le Grand and I passed under the barriers and ran to the King’s cabinet, where we saw him stretched on his bed, and M. de Vic,[82] Counsellor of State, seated on the same bed. He had put his cross of the Order to the King’s lips, and was bidding him think of God. Melon, his chief physician, was in the ruelle, and some surgeons, who wanted to dress his wounds; but he was already gone.... Then the chief physician cried: ‘Ah! it is all over; he has gone!’ Monsieur le Grand, on arriving, went down on his knees in the ruelle of the bed, and took one of the King’s hands and kissed it. As for myself, I had thrown myself at his feet, which I embraced, weeping bitterly....”
CHAPTER XIII
Incidents at the Court and in Paris after the assassination of Henri IV—Meeting between Bassompierre and Sully—Marie de’ Medici declared Regent—Her difficult position—Return of Condé—Greed and arrogance of the grandees—Quarrel between the Comte de Soissons and the Duc de Guise—Grievance of Monsieur le Comte against Bassompierre—He persuades Madame d’Entragues to endeavour to compel Bassompierre to marry her daughter, Marie—Proceedings instituted against that gentleman—Announcement of the “Spanish marriages”—Magnificent fêtes in the Place-Royale—Intrigues at the Court—The Princes and Concini in power—Assassination of the Baron de Luz by the Chevalier de Guise—Marie de’ Medici and the Princes—Conversation of the Regent with Bassompierre—Bassompierre reconciles the Guises with the Queen-Mother—The Chevalier de Guise kills the son of the Baron de Luz in a duel—The Princes, on the advice of Concini, return from Court.